There is great interest and motivation to make a transition from fossil energy based electricity to the generation from renewable sources such as solar or wind. These sources offer enormous potential for meeting future energy demands. However, the use of electricity generated from these intermittent sources requires efficient electrical energy storage. For large-scale, solar- or wind-based electrical generation to be practical, the development of new electrical energy storage systems are critical to meeting continuous energy demands and effectively leveling the cyclic nature of these energy sources. Transformational developments in electrical energy storage are needed. In particular, there are needs for secondary batteries (or secondary batteries assembled in a charged state) made from novel materials that would increase the level of energy storage per unit volume and decrease dead weight while maintaining stable electrode-electrolyte interfaces. There is potential for increases in charge density by utilizing multielectron redox couples, such as in an aluminum battery.
The currently available electric energy storage technologies fall far short of the requirements for efficiently providing electrical energy for transportation vehicles, commercial and residential electrical and heating applications, and even for many electrically powered consumer devices. In particular, electrical storage devices with high energy and power densities are needed to power electric vehicles with performance comparable to that of vehicles powered by petroleum-fueled internal combustion engines.
Previous attempts to utilize aluminum anodes in secondary batteries have been plagued by high corrosion rates, parasitic hydrogen evolution, and a decrease in the reversible electrode potential (i.e., cell voltage is considerably lower than the theoretical value) due to formation of an oxide film on the anode surface.